


take our leave and go

by plotholes_and_paradoxes



Series: trial by fire [6]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Fire Nation Politics (Avatar), Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Northern Water Tribe, Parental Hakoda (Avatar), Southern Water Tribe, Yue (Avatar) Lives, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:14:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29058042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plotholes_and_paradoxes/pseuds/plotholes_and_paradoxes
Summary: Prince Zuko embarks on a quest to find his mother. Uncle's permission, some bodily threats from Azula, and he's on his way.The first leg of his journey will take him to the Southern and Northern Water Tribes.
Relationships: Bato & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Mai & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: trial by fire [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1837981
Comments: 63
Kudos: 180





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey loves! This is the first part in a multi-chapter fic set in the "trial by fire" universe. 
> 
> We're going to get to the Southern and Northern Water Tribes in this one and then I have multiple stand-alone fics planned for the Earth Kingdom. 
> 
> Reminder that all of this is still one year before canon so Aang isn't going to make an appearance (yet...)

Prince Zuko is fifteen and healing and restless. His burn has healed as much as it ever will - but he and Azula still sometimes freeze when voices or hands are raised.

Prince Zuko is restless. Prince Zuko’s mother is in the wind o̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶g̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶. Prince Zuko wants to go on a quest. 

When he announces this at dinner, to Azula and Uncle, the servants do the sensible thing and immediately leave the room. They have, for the most part, survived a handful of Fire Lords. They don’t need to know what happens when this one gets upset. 

“I want to go on a quest,” Zuko repeats, looking back and forth from his uncle to his sister. “To find Mother.” 

Uncle Iroh has seen the way that Zuko looks at every passing woman like they might be Ursa. He has seen Zuko peer past long black hair of nobles and commoners alike, in hopes of a glimpse of Ursa’s face

Uncle opens his mouth but then Azula cuts in, 13-years-old and full of fire. 

“Sure,” Azula says. “Go and get yourself killed. It’s not like we’re short on heirs as it is.” 

Uncle and Zuko both flinch slightly at that, to which Azula feels a slight twinge of something. It isn’t guilt, of course. But it’s uncomfortable nonetheless. 

Zuko swallows. “And, I thought it could also serve as a diplomatic mission to other Nations. It would allow them to see us in a more human capacity.” 

Underneath her f̶e̶a̶r̶ anger Azula allows herself a small smile - Zuko is finally somewhat passable at politics. Good. 

“Well, nephew,” Uncle says. He has the faraway look in his eyes that always means he’s thinking about Lu Ten. “I think we should start talking about logistics.” 

Uncle commissions a ship - not a war ship, but a small vessel borrowed from a noble family eager to please. It is still metal, of course, they wouldn’t send the Prince on a wooden boat. But it’s smooth where the war ships are angular and luxurious enough for a royal family.

(Zuko is adamant that he doesn’t need fancy furnishings in his quarters. Uncle makes sure he has them anyway.) 

The ship is a political move, of course. Everything is. The ship says Fire Nation, but it doesn’t say war. Zuko doesn’t want Mother (or the other nations’ people) to be scared by a warship. Azula and Uncle spent a long time defusing the war - a ship that says Fire Nation but also says Peace is very important. 

Along with the crew, Mai goes with Zuko. (Azula plans on never dying. But, if she did, Mai would make a good Fire Lady. She’d keep Zuko safe.)

Ty Lee stays with Azula, even though Zuko is dumb enough to get himself killed even with Mai defending him. But if Azula dies without backup, she won’t be able to help Zuko out of his messes. (It doesn’t hurt that Ty Lee is also a genius at manipulation and gathering intel. She is sometimes aggravatingly bubbly - but she’s got a razor sharp edge that Azula has honed carefully. A̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶’̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶.̶) 

Zuko looks at the bedroom he has lived in all his life. The rich red and gold furniture, his theater scrolls, 15 years worth of memories. 

He packs his dual dao, of course. He has his casual robes and his formal ones, clothing in every nation’s style just in case he needs to be less conspicuous, and a remarkable amount of money. He’s never been out of the Fire Nation before. The longest time he has ever been away from home was when they used to go to Ember Island as a family. 

“Don’t die,” Azula says from the doorway. Zuko resists flinching from the unexpected voice. “Or I’ll have to force the spirits to bring you back.” 

“Thanks for your confidence in me,” Zuko says. 

“I’m serious,” Azula snaps. “I worked so hard to save you. You better not throw it away.” 

Zuko turns to Azula. He sees the tension lining her body, the stress and fear she pretends isn’t there. He sees the set of her jaw that means she’s grinding her teeth together. 

“Love you too,” Zuko says. 

“Whatever.” Azula turns to go. 

“Wait!” Zuko slides something out of his bag. He holds the knife uncle sent him from Ba Sing Se. Never give up without a fight. Zuko stares at the blade for a moment. And then he slips it gently into Azula’s hand. “Keep it safe for me.” 

Zuko sets off with the wind at his back and his family waving him off. 

(Zuko won’t find his mother. She’s long dead and long gone. But maybe he’ll find something else.)


	2. Chapter 2

Zuko steps out of the ship and onto solid ground, glad to be on land again. There is a small gathering before him, figures clad in blue. Most of whom hold some type of weapons. Zuko's dao feel solid against his back. 

“Hello,” Zuko says, using his best please-respect-me voice. Azula would call him pathetic, he thinks fondly. Mai stands on his left side, and he finds himself glad that she is guarding him from harm. There are soldiers on the gangplank, ready to protect him if necessary. They’re helmetless and relatively unarmed- a compromise not to seem too militaristic while still guarding the Prince. 

“I am Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. Since the war has been declared over by Regent Fire Lord Iroh, I am on a quest to find my mother and retrieve her from her banishment. I have decided to start here.” 

Looking around, Zuko flushes. “We, uh, sent a letter ahead of us. I’m assuming it has not arrived yet?” 

The warrior at the front nods his head slightly. The men reposition their weapons in their hands, so they no longer point at Zuko but they still have access to them. All of them, that is, except a boy who looks a little younger than Zuko, who’s holding a boomerang like it’s his only lifeline. 

“I won’t let you hurt my family!” the boy yells. 

Zuko is genuinely confused at that. What about ‘the war is over’ does this boy not understand?

“You’re right.” Zuko takes a deep breath. Azula has never suffered fools, but Zuko isn’t Azula. “Nobody is going to get hurt. I am simply looking for my mother. As our father’s reign is over and, thus, his cruel treatment of her no longer sanctioned, my sister and I wish to welcome her back home.” 

Zuko had practiced his speech for hours. Azula and Uncle had helped him draft it - he needed to sound formal yet hopeful while also making it very clear that Mother’s banishment was purely due to Ozai’s unfit rule and not due to any action of hers or her children. It was a fine line, and Zuko had been afraid that he would mess it up. He also has diplomatic responses prepared for most questions that could be asked of him. 

“I’m sorry,” one of the men says, his hand on boomerang-boy’s shoulder. “We have had no refugees join our tribe in decades. Your mother is not here.” 

Zuko nods. He scans the villagers faces again, hoping beyond hope for a flash of warm gold eyes. 

“Thank you for your time,” he says. Even if Mother was here, he wouldn’t try to force her back if she didn’t want to come. He’s not his father. 

Zuko bows formally. (Too low for a prince to peasants, but he’s assuming the man who told him Mother is not here is in charge. There’s no reason to be disrespectful to those who don’t deserve so.) Then, he turns to go with Mai at his side. 

“Wait!” The man says, hand still on the boy’s shoulder. “Would you like to stay for dinner? We have not had visitors in quite some time.” 

Zuko and Mai have a silent conversation. After a couple moments, Zuko turns back to the villagers and bows again. “We would be honored.” 

(Hakoda had received the letter two years ago, same as the leaders of every other nation. The one that announced Fire Lord Ozai’s death and the ascension of Princess Azula to the throne in seven year’s time. Hakoda is nothing if not clever - anything at all he can learn from the young Prince is something they didn’t know before. In a week’s time) 

Zuko and Mai return to the ship to inform Lieutenant Jee about the new plans. Jee thinks it a bad idea - but he had children of his own, once. He knows Zuko is not going to budge. 

By the time they leave the boat again, without guards and wrapped in a couple more layers, the Water Tribe has set up a large fire and plates piled with food. 

Zuko and Mai are seated near the man from before, who introduces himself as Chief Hakoda. Sitting beside Zuko is the boy, still holding a boomerang tightly in his grip. Beside Mai is a girl who reminds Zuko of Azula - she holds herself proud and strong. She’s also glaring at Zuko - the resemblance to his little sister really is uncanny. 

Zuko watches everyone else grab food for a moment before going for his - his scrolls say that the Water Tribes dine communally, but they are also one hundred years out of date. They are, however, right on this count. 

He’s eating a strange fruit that he feels unsure about when the Chief turns to him. 

“It has been a while since we’ve seen Fire Nation who aren’t attacking.”

Zuko winces. “Yes, I know.” Hakoda notices for the first time how raspy his voice is - he wonders if it was the smoke inhalation from the same fire that caused that scar. “I’m unable to change my nation’s past. But I believe in the future that Uncle and then Azula will create.” 

“Isn’t your uncle the Dragon of the West?” Hakoda knows he has to tread lightly. The Fire Prince has seemed oddly rational for Fire Nation royalty, but Hadoka is remarkably close to criticizing the acting Fire Lord. “I don’t know how much I trust that the war is over when the current Fire Lord is the one who laid siege on Ba Sing Se.”

Zuko winces. “Uncle is only regent for the next five years. And he lost faith in the war years ago, when my cousin died.”

“Prince Lu Ten?” Hakoda asks, to clarify. News may not be the most current in the Southern Water Tribe, but he had heard about the second-in-line’s death a few years prior.

The fire prince nods. “Yes. He was Uncle’s only child.” 

Hakoda does some quick math. The Prince had lost over half of his family members in the last couple years. Deciding it is time to change the subject, he asks: “Why are you looking in the Water Tribe for your mother?”

Zuko shrugs. “I’m looking everywhere. Mother was a resourceful woman. She would have known staying in the Fire Nation wouldn’t be safe for her. She would have fled to another nation.” 

Hakoda tactfully doesn’t mention that Prince Zuko is speaking in the past tense. He knows, better than most, that the boy is chasing a daydream. But he also knows that if there was even the slightest possibility Kya was still alive, nothing short of Tui and La’s interference would keep Sokka and Katara from looking for her. (Hakoda would be looking for her, too.) 

“Why was your mother banished in the first place?” 

The sadness on Prince Zuko’s face makes him look so much younger. His hand touches his scar, almost instinctively. “She loved me more than she loved Father.” He shrugs, the tiniest hint of a smile on his lips. “Also, she committed treason.” 

Hakoda doesn’t really know how to respond to that. He would do anything for his children, make any sacrifice. Kya made the ultimate sacrifice. He thinks he understands how the Prince’s mother must have felt. 

Mai pays just enough attention to Zuko and the Chief’s conversation to intervene if anything goes wrong - she uses the rest of her attention to talk to the girl next to her. The girl’s hair is pulled back in the style many of the women wear, with two blue beads on her hair loops. Mai quickly learns that her name is Katara and she is the Chief’s daughter. 

Mai is used to being part of AzulaMaiTyLee. She likes them, for the most part - they don’t mind her apathy, they keep her entertained. But it’s been a while since she’s been able to see other kids her age whose main goals aren’t world domination. 

Katara, for her part, is angry at Mai for being Fire Nation and existing. But she is also starved of other girls her age. They’re in the middle of exchanging pleasantries about Mai’s hair ornaments compared to Katara’s when Zuko shuffles over. 

“You alright?” Mai asks him. 

Zuko nods. “Just politics. I’ll survive.” 

Mai nods. “Well, you are very hard to kill.” 

Katara looks between the two. They’re both smiling at the joke, but it seems remarkably macabre to her. 

“That’s a horrible thing to say,” Katara says. “Death isn’t funny.” 

Prince Zuko goes pale - or, paler, if that is even possible. “I did not mean to imply that, Lady…” He shoots a pleading look at Mai.

“Katara,” Mai completes for him. 

“Lady Katara,” Prince Zuko says. “I apologize.” 

He makes another strange little bow at her and Katara feels a little mollified but still mostly angry. Her home has rarely felt safe since her mother was murdered. And here is a firebender with the gall to come to her home and look for his mother. She hopes his mother really is dead. 

(She doesn’t really. But she’s thirteen and carrying a grief that will never go away. She’s allowed her anger.) 

Zuko wonders why he's always surrounded by terrifying teenage girls.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chief's children warm up to Zuko and Mai. Sokka and Zuko spar. 
> 
> Then everything goes wrong.

When the dinner is over and the adults move to clean it up, the boy who has sat by the Chief’s side strides over to Zuko and Mai. 

“Why do you have swords?” Asks the boy with the boomerang. “I thought you were supposed to be a firebender.”

“Of course I’m a bender!” Zuko snaps, the old shame filling his chest. But he reminds himself of Uncle’s assurances that he’s good, he’s strong, he’s worthy. “I carry the dao because one can never be too careful.” 

“Interesting,” the boy says. He has clever eyes - Zuko wonders if they would have been friends, had the boy grown up in the Fire Nation. “I’m Sokka.” 

Zuko bows slightly. “Prince Zuko -” 

“Of the Fire Nation, yes, we know.” Sokka cuts Zuko off. “Are you any good?” 

“With the swords?” Zuko asks. “A bit. You fight?” 

Sokka doesn’t meet Zuko’s eyes. “With a club and a boomerang. Not with swords. I’d be good though, if I learned.” 

“I’m sure you would be,” Zuko says. Sokka’s looking hungrily at the swords, and Zuko knows how he feels. 

“Know what the best thing about dual dao is?” Zuko asks. 

“What?” Sokka asks. 

“There are two.” Zuko unsheathes the swords. Everyone freezes at the sound of the blade. But Zuko just holds out the hilt of one of the swords. “It’s not the same as learning with a jian or another single sword, but it’s enough for the basics.” 

Sokka takes the sword almost reverently. Sokka’s positioning is off, and Zuko shows him the proper footwork. 

“You’re a good teacher,” Sokka says.

Zuko shakes his head. “I’m not, really.”

For the first 13 years of his life, Zuko’s teachers taught through violence and reprimands. Only in the last two has Zuko had teachers who praise instead of despise. Zuko knows he learns better the second way - but so many years of harsh lessons made him think that maybe he was the broken one. He’s not yelling at Sokka because Sokka is, actually, catching on rather quickly. Quicker than Zuko ever did. 

Fast learner as Sokka is, Zuko would have been able to make at least six killing strikes during their sparring. (Zuko does admit that Sokka would have had at least one chance to throw the final blow himself.) 

Zuko does, however, finally knock Sokka to the ground. He sheathes his sword and offers Sokka a hand up. 

“You did well,” Zuko says.

Sokka returns the sword, studying Zuko’s face. “How did you really get that scar?” he asks.

“What do you mean?” Zuko asks, heart pounding so loud he can hear it in his ears. “Everyone knows.”

It had been a huge part of Uncle and Azula’s first laws. They decried child abuse and said the officials would no longer turn a blind eye to abuse of power. They had sent a description of the Agni Kai to other nations as well. Azula had fought against it, though Zuko was just numb. But eventually the importance of distancing the new reign from the old and emphasizes Ozai’s failure as Fire Lord outweighed the siblings’ concerns. 

“Yeah, we all know what the declaration said. But how did it really happen?” Sokka asks. 

Zuko sighs. He’s grown used to the scar, as much as one can be, but mentioning it always brings back the terror and ash of the moment. (Zuko will never tell anyone this, but at the time, he had been happy that Father was burning him instead of Azula.) 

“My father burned me,” Zuko says. “That’s the truth, as much as I don’t want it to be.”

“That’s messed up,” Sokka says. 

Zuko nods. “Yeah. It is.” 

With Zuko’s dao sheathed, they return to the fire to warm up. Zuko wishes he could use his breath of fire, but he’s aware that using any bending during this tentative conversation might not go over well. 

Sokka leans so close to the fire that Zuko fears he’s going to catch. Katara rolls her eyes though, and Zuko tells himself everything must be fine. But then Zuko turns towards Sokka to ask him about the practicality of boomerangs when a flame leaps up the other boy’s sleeve. 

Zuko could stop the fire like it’s nothing. It is not tied to another fire bender’s flame - it’s a trick babies do in their cradles. But Zuko sees the fire and the panic on Sokka’s face and he freezes. 

Almost too fast for Zuko to comprehend, water climbs up Sokka’s arm and puts the fire out. 

Everything goes silent. Katara is thirteen and untrained. She was just helping her brother. 

The Fire Nation has killed for less. 

Katara stands, one hand extended towards the ground. Sokka and Katara look at each other, then their father, then to Zuko and Mai. The silence is choking, painful. Every member of the tribe is taut, afraid they’re about to witness the murder of a thirteen year old girl. 

(Chief Hakoda is already visualizing the steps needed to disarm the Fire Prince. They won’t stand a chance once the Prince’s men come off the ship, but it will take them at least two minutes. Hakoda can do a lot with two minutes.) 

But Prince Zuko does not firebend or unsheathe his swords. Instead, there is something like awe in his voice when he says, “you’re a waterbender?” 

“Yes,” Katara says, seeing no point in lying. She straightens up from her stance. “But not a trained one.” 

“I’ve never met a waterbender,” Zuko says. 

Katara sees her mother, bloody and broken, behind her eyelids. “I wonder why.” 

“We are going to the Northern Water Tribe next,” Zuko says, apology in his voice. “It would only be right to help you get to a Master. After what we did.” 

“That won’t be necessary.” Chief Hakoda’s voice is cold. “Your mother is not here. I trust you will be leaving in peace?” 

Zuko inhales sharply at the Chief’s tone. Mai squeezes his elbow gently, and he comes back to himself. 

“Of course.” 

Zuko bows again, then turns and retreats to his ship. 

“Prince Zuko,” says Lieutenant Jee, only a small distance from the Southern Water Tribe. “We have a problem.” 

“What is it?” Zuko asks. He hopes it’s something small, a rope that needs replacement at the next port or sailors upset about a lack of easily resupplyable rations. 

“We have a stowaway.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey loves! This is one of my favorite chapters (in the entire series) thus far. I hope you enjoy :)
> 
> (Gentle reminder that I adore comments. So... leave on if you want.)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The stowaway is returned. 
> 
> Zuko is just... so confused.

The Fire Nation ship returns with white flags flying. 

When the gangplank lowers, Prince Zuko walks down. He is without his dao and has a rising bruise overlapping his scar. 

More importantly, Katara stands beside him. From the ice, she looks unharmed. Angry, sure. Her hands are in fists at her side. 

But she is here and unchained and alive. Hakoda wants to rush to her. But he waits, not making any sudden movements. He doesn’t know what sick game the Fire Nation’s Prince is playing, but he’s not going to humor him. (Even as the only thought running through his mind is KataraKataraKatara.) 

Katara comes down the gangplank slowly. Prince Zuko follows a couple feet behind. 

When Katara gets close enough, Hakoda pulls her into a crushing hug. He can feel Sokka right behind him, glaring at the firebender. Hakoda, too, doesn’t look away from Prince Zuko, even while holding his daughter.

“What is the meaning of this?” Hakoda growls. The Prince shrinks into himself. 

Prince Zuko bows towards Chief Hakoda. Hakoda wants to scream that now is not the time for civility, for formality, for pretending. Hakoda doesn’t understand how the Fire Nation can hurt and break and kill and act like a bow and a well placed word will fix everything. 

“I did not kidnap your daughter,” Prince Zuko says, like a liar. 

At this point, all the members of the tribe have spears and clubs and boomerangs pointed at the boy. But his eyes stay on Hakoda. 

“Right,” Hakoda says harshly. “Because my daughter just showed up on your ship?” 

A flip switches in Prince Zuko. “I’m not lying!” He spits out through gritted teeth. “I was trying to be nice when I offered to take her to the Northern Water Tribe! But you said no - so I listened! How is it my fault that she snuck on board?” 

“Oh, so now this is my daughter’s fault!” Hakoda snaps.

“Maybe it is!” Zuko shouts back. (Zuko pretends the cold is what’s making him shake. Definitely not the man yelling at him.) 

Katara pushes herself back and out of Hakoda’s grasp. She won’t meet Hakoda’s eyes. “He’s right,” she says. 

“What?” Hakoda asks. He shakes his head, because he clearly misheard his daughter. 

“I stowed away on his ship,” Katara says. “Because I need to learn. And because he’s the first person who has actually entertained the thought of taking me to the North in years!” 

Katara’s yelling at her father, gesturing wildly with her arms. Anyone still paying any attention to Prince Zuko at this point sees something that looks very similar to fear on his face. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Hakoda asks. “I thought you were dead. Or worse!” 

Katara scoffs. “I was going to send a hawk as soon as I got on the ship.”

“Why did you get on the ship in the first place!” Hakoda asks again. Katara has always been headstrong, but he didn’t think she was rash. 

“Because his family broke it so he gets to fix it!” Katara yells. 

“What would have happened if he decided not to take you to the North once he found you?” 

“I would have taken down as many ashmakers as I could on the way out,” Katara tilts her chin up, defiance in her eyes. “And they would have deserved it.” 

Hakoda sighs. Behind Katara, Prince Zuko’s eyes are still darting between the two of them. Hakoda rubs his face with his hand. At some point, most of the weapons pointed at Prince Zuko have disappeared. (Sokka is still steadfastly aiming his boomerang. He appreciates what Zuko taught him about sword fighting, but he appreciates having a living sister more.) 

Hakoda lowers his hand from his face, then raises it again. There’s a tear streaking down Katara’s cheek and he reaches out to wipe it away and...

There is a firebender between him and his daughter. Prince Zuko’s eyes are on his outstretched hand and the boy is shaking slightly. 

Katara rolls her eyes behind the prince. “He wasn’t going to hit me. I told you that.” 

Prince Zuko’s unscarred cheek flushes. And then he steps back, letting Katara emerge behind him.

“Well maybe he shouldn’t have looked like he was going to hit you, then.” Prince Zuko snaps. 

Chief Hakoda is staunchly against harming children. However, he also does not want to open that can of worms right now with the Fire Prince. 

“Speaking of hitting, what happened to your face?” Sokka asks from beside Hakoda. 

“Your sister,” Zuko says. 

“He said he wouldn’t take me to the North,” Katara shrugs. “Also, reparations.” 

Zuko just sighs. He looks between Hakoda and Katara and Sokka again. “Are we done here?” he asks. “Because I don’t really understand what’s going on anymore.” 

That makes two of us, thinks Hakoda. He elects not to say that outloud. 

“I still want to go to the North!” Katara says. She stomps her foot and a thin crack forms beneath her feet.

“My answer hasn’t changed.” 

“But he returned me!” Katara yells. “Doesn’t that prove something?”

Hakoda sighs. “This is not the place for this discussion. Katara, Sokka, Bato: I need you in my tent.” 

He looks at the Prince. “Stay here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes:
> 
> I wanted to keep Katara as in-character as possible. I'm not sure I completely accomplished it, but I tried to walk a thin line between her still being very much anti-Zuko while also desperately wanting to go North. 
> 
> And, as much fun as it would have been to have stowaway!Katara for a couple chapters, Zuko isn't going to risk upsetting the peace like that. 
> 
> Comments are much appreciated!


	5. Chapter 5

Zuko hates everything. He’s cold and angry and really, really tired at being yelled at. His face throbs a little where Katara punched him. And, to top it all off, the rest of the Southern Water Tribe is still staring at him. 

Then a small body rushes towards him. A small child stands at his feet, so wrapped up in cloth and furs that Zuko can’t tell if it’s a boy or girl. A gasp rises from the people in front of him. 

Zuko crouches down. “Hello, there,” he says. He keeps his voice soft and gentle, mentally cursing the permanent scratchiness of his voice. “I think your parents want you to go back to them.” 

The kid pouts and plots down into the snow. “No.” 

“Okay…” Zuko says. He looks around and, seeing no one from the tribe approaching, sinks down onto the snow too. “What’s your name?” 

“Rana.”

“That’s a very nice name,” Zuko says. (He still has no idea of the child’s gender, but that seems like a strange question to ask, so he doesn’t.)

“Are you really a fire b’nder?” The kid asks.

“Yes,” Zuko says. “I am.” 

“Prove it!” The kid says. Their eyes squint at Zuko in a toddler glare. 

Looking around at the adults watching them, Zuko shakes his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” 

The kid’s lip starts trembling. “But I wanna see firebending!” 

“No no no,” Zuko says, panicking. “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.” 

The about-to-be-crying kid does not listen to Zuko’s pleas.

“Okay, okay,” Zuko says. He lets the tiniest flame burst to life in his palm and sends it flying up and around and in circles. 

The kids' eyes widen. They reach a hand out, and Zuko scoots back through the snow. 

“It’s hot,” Zuko warns. 

There’s commotion by the Chief’s tent. Zuko scrambles up from the ground. And the kid, sensing that stare-at-the-firebender time is over, scrambles back to their parents. 

Hakoda stares at the guilty-looking prince and then at his relatively calm people and decides he doesn’t even want to know. 

“I have one question,” Hakoda asks Prince Zuko. 

“What is it?” The boy asks warily. 

“When you brough Katara back, why didn’t you bring any of your soldiers?” 

The Prince looks at Hakoda seriously. “Anything that happens on that ship, or to my men, is my responsibility. Had you decided to attack me, I wasn't going to risk them.” 

Hakoda squints. “Isn’t the point of having military accompaniment that they protect you?” 

Zuko shrugs. “Well, yeah. I mean, Azula’s going to be pissed and Uncle’s going to write me a very disappointed letter once Lieutenant Jee tells him about this.” 

“Then why do it?”

Prince Zuko doesn’t meet Hakoda’s eyes. “It felt right.” Feeling the weight of Hakoda’s stare, he continues. “This whole thing started because I refused to want to sacrifice my people. I’m not going to turn around and tell them to lay down their lives for me. Especially not in peace time.” 

Hakoda does not fully understand the first part of what the prince is saying. But he catches the wording at the end, and the tilt of the prince’s head. He nods assent - it is still peacetime. He doesn’t want to restart the war any time soon, especially not over a misunderstanding. 

(Even if said misunderstanding gave him a heart attack.) 

“We have decided that, if your offer is still open, Katara has my permission to join you on your journey North.”

“It is,” the prince nods. 

“However, she will only go if Sokka and my second, Bato, go too.” 

Hakoda is hedging his bets, he knows. He has noticed the way that Prince Zuko acts around adult men and, cruel as it is, he is using it to his advantage. If Bato’s presence makes the prince less likely to hurt his children, Hakoda doesn’t care how Prince Zuko feels about it. 

It is political too - it would be exceedingly dangerous to have Hakoda and his only two children on a Fire Nation ship. Truthfully, he didn’t want Sokka to go either. But the first thing Sokka said upon entering Hakoda’s tent was “why didn’t you tell me?” and the second was “I would have gone with you.” Hakoda knows how important it is for the Southern and Northern tribes to reconnect, and that Katara is right that he could have taken her there himself at any point in the last three years. But Hakoda has only ever known war, and it’s a hard thing to let go of. 

“That is acceptable,” Prince Zuko bows at Hakoda. Then he turns to Katara. “Lady Katara,” Prince Zuko says sharply. “I want to make it very clear that I did not miss that part where you said my crew deserves death. Attacking anyone will not be tolerated.”

“As long as they don’t attack me,” Katara responds. 

Zuko nods. “They won’t.” 

Hakoda knows that the Fire Nation is evil. It took his wife, huge swaths of his culture, communication with their sister tribe. He sees the Fire Nation’s evil painted on the young Prince’s face. 

And yet, as he watches his children and second-in-command sail away on a Fire Nation ship, he finds that he believes, for the first time in years, that the war might actually be over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just... couldn't let Zuko leave the SWT without being accosted by a small child. It's important to me.


	6. Chapter 6

One of the first things Sokka learns about Prince Zuko is that he is painfully awkward. At one point, he finds himself wondering who socialized him. Then he catches a glimpse of the other boy’s scar and is forcefully reminded that, perhaps, Fire Lord Ozai was not the best at childrearing.

The second is that Prince Zuko is, fundamentally, unsure of himself. 

Sokka knows things about himself. He’s the son of Hakoda and Kya, older brother of Katara. He’s the meat and sarcasm guy. He’s a warrior who might never have to fight, thanks to the war suddenly ending just years shy of its hundredth year. 

He doesn’t think Prince Zuko knows those things about himself. He fumbles through formalities, even as he keeps his head held high. He has his sword strapped to his back - as though he doesn’t fully trust his bending. 

The third thing Sokka learns about Prince Zuko is that he does not have to worry about him hurting anyone Sokka cares about. Of course, precautions had been taken upon leaving the Southern Water Tribe, unbeknownst to the Fire Nation. A letter was immediately sent North, warning them that if the Prince’s ship showed up without any Southern Water Tribe nationals on it, there was a problem.

Sokka realizes that was an unnecessary precaution in the middle of a storm. 

The first hint comes when, instead of going down to his quarters and letting his crew handle it, he stays upon the deck. 

“You can go to your rooms, if you’d like.” Zuko nods at his entourage -- Sokka and Katara and Bato and Mai. 

“The chance of you doing something stupid is slightly less if I’m here,” Mai deadpans. “I’m staying.”

Sokka shrugs. “I’m staying in case you do something stupid. I want to watch.”

Katara elbows him in the stomach. He grunts in pain but smiles at her, to which she just rolls her eyes. 

What Sokka doesn’t say is that this is his first extended sea voyage, ever. There had been a couple month delay in the war ending and his tribe receiving that information, months in which every other man in the village sailed through startlingly empty waters. Sokka did not get to go, his father ignoring his pleas. He’s not going to miss a second of this voyage. 

As sheets of water pour down, lighting following them, Sokka wonders what it was like when skips could be manned by waterbenders. Could they have smoothed the jagged waves? Could they have guided the rain away from the deck? 

Sokka is drawn from his musings by a chorus of shouts followed, almost immediately, by a thunderclap. 

In seconds, the deck is in chaos. There are Fire Nation men and women running around, shouting directions and orders at each other. From what he can overhear, he assumes the ship is being redirected to the eye of the storm. 

Sokka thinks everything might be alright for once when another lighting bolt glows in the corner of his vision. 

Almost in slow motion, he sees the lighting spiking down towards the ship. He sees Prince Zuko glide away from them, towards the lighting bolt. He fears that he is going to see the Prince get roasted alive - and isn’t that how Ozai died? - but the other boy moves with a purpose. He stands below the lighting spike and is hit. 

It takes Sokka a second to realize that no, he has not just watched the death of a Fire Nation prince. Zuko catches the lightning, directing it down his arm and through his chest. Then, movement as smooth and practiced as the katas he does on the deck every morning, Prince Zuko points his other arm back towards the sky and releases the lightning. 

Almost as fast as it happened, it’s done. Zuko turns around, and both Katara and Mai opens her mouth to yell at him, when another shout is heard. 

There’s a man in the crow’s nest. From the look of it, the man will not be in the crow’s nest for much longer. 

Prince Zuko takes off again, climbing up the ladder faster than anyone should be able to in a storm. Faster than anyone should be able to at all, actually. But still, he's too slow and the man’s fingers are slipping and Sokka fears he will watch a death today and 

Prince Zuko catches him. 

They dangle there for a moment, Zuko’s one-handed grip on the ladder the only thing keeping them from falling to the deck. But then the man swings closer to the ladder and grabs on and they’re both climbing down. 

Once the man reaches the ground he bows to Zuko, who nods back and then makes a beeline towards where they’re standing. 

He’s breathing fast, strands of hair sticking to his face and neck. Through some miracle, most of his hair is still in a topknot. And, for a second, Sokka could almost swear he sees a spark leave the boy’s mouth. 

“Is your shoulder alright?” Katara asks, eyes still wide from every single event of the last five minutes. 

“Yeah,” Zuko says. He rolls his shoulder to prove it, which goes wrong when he winces slightly. 

Sokka sees Bato about to say something to the prince. He’s almost excited to hear Bato mother koalahen someone who isn’t him. But Mai cuts in. 

“You are going to the medic,” Mai says. Her voice is sharp as the knives Sokka has noticed she carries but been too afraid to ask about. “Or I am going to commit treason and drag you there myself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate fics that retell episodes play-by-play. However, I figured that I'm going so off canon that this one scene can be kept, especially since it's one of the most important S1 moments for Zuko.


	7. Chapter 7

The days after the storm are clear and bright. The sky and ocean go on forever, blue on blue. And there is a tentative truce between the water nation guests and the fire nation ship. Something that might border closer to a friendship than either side is willing to admit. 

Then a bird screeches from the sky and Prince Zuko runs to grab a glove made of leather. He whistles sharply and a messenger hawk lands gracefully on the back of his hand. The other hand comes up and scratches the bird’s head. 

Prince Zuko is many things. At the moment, he is speaking to the hawk like it is a small child. From what Sokka can catch, the bird is named Hawky. 

“Why Hawky?” He asks. 

Zuko smiles the way he does when he talks about his uncle or his sister. “Azula named him when she was nine.” He turned back to the bird and cooed “didn’t she, Hawky? Yes, she did.” 

Bato stares at the teenagers surrounding him and almost smiles fondly. But then he winces when he remembers that Princess Azula is thirteen years old. She named the bird four years ago, when she was nine. The princess was a child. The princess is still a child.

He’s shaken from his thoughts when the prince pulls out multiple scrolls from the tube tied to the hawk’s leg. He reads the names quickly and hands one to Mai, one to Bato, and crosses the deck to give another to Commander Zhao. 

Sokka feels slightly left out. (Katara won’t admit it, but she does too.) 

To Prince Zuko, Second-in-Line to the Dragon Throne, Master of the Dual Dao 

Dum-Dum, I am extremely displeased to hear that you left your guards on the ship when going into hostile territory. Be more careful. 

If you die, I’ll kill you. 

Your sister,   
Princess Azula, First-in-Line to the Dragon Throne, Wielder of the Blue Flame

Lady Mai, 

Mai, keep Zuko from doing anything stupid. Inviting the Chief’s children to accompany you was either a stroke of genius or profound naivety. While charming, it could get him killed. I trust you to prevent that. 

Princess Azula, First-in-Line to the Dragon Throne, Wielder of the Blue Flame

P.S. Ty Lee says hi. 

To Prince Zuko, Second-in-Line to the Dragon Throne

Dearest nephew, I beg you to remember you are not invincible. I am glad you have such belief in the humanity of others, but I must remind you that everyone bears the scars of our nation’s past. 

I hope you are remembering to meditate. Remember, a good cup of tea is a cure for any number of ills. 

Your loving uncle,   
Prince Iroh, Regent Fire Lord, Dragon of the West, Third-in-Line to the Dragon Throne 

Bato of the Southern Water Tribe,

I have been made aware that my nephew has offered you passage to the Northern Water Tribe. I am overjoyed that you put your trust in him -- and so I am going to do the same for you. But I must warn you that I love Prince Zuko as if he were my own. If anything happens to him, at your hand or those of the Chief’s children, I will be forced to take drastic measures. 

Prince Iroh, Regent Fire Lord, Dragon of the West, Third-in-Line to the Dragon Throne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zuko is SO lucky that these letters were mailed from the Fire Nation before the storm took place. His uncle + sister don't even know about the whole "redirected lightening with both Azula and Uncle spotting him and a healer on hand" thing. 
> 
> Fun fact I learned from the Avatar messenger hawk wiki: "Zuko was originally slated to have a messenger hawk as a pet which was supposed to have a rivalry with Momo." We were robbed.


End file.
